


Lets do lunch

by justinsbuzz



Series: Celestial Connverse-gence arc [6]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Dreams and Nightmares, Gen, Lunch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-29 22:53:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20090107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justinsbuzz/pseuds/justinsbuzz
Summary: Steven musters up the courage to talk to Pearl about his nightmares, but get's sidetracked by an unexpected visitor coming over for lunch.





	Lets do lunch

**Author's Note:**

> OK, forewarning, not sure where 'dying in your sleep' falls on the angst spectrum, but I'm going to cover my bases and call it angst. and oh man, this should have been a one day project, but life happens. kind of slow, but somewhat important. think 'Townie Episode'.

Let’s do lunch.

“So. Yeah. Pearl, I’ve been having peculiar dreams about White Diamond, and she’s been trying to take out my gem every week.” Steven said. “But I don’t think these are normal dreams, and I think it might actually be White Diamond. I don’t know what to do, so I need your help. Does White Diamond have the power to go into people’s heads like I do?”

The late summer afternoon light danced across the floor of Steven’s room where he had been pacing back and forth. Trying to ask Pearl for help on anything that has to do with White Diamond. This was something that demanded practice. Steven doesn’t want to cause Pearl to poof out of shock. He needed help, and sadly, Amethyst is the only other gem that knows.

“My stars, Steven!” Amethyst said, who was wearing a party hat on her nose and trying to make her voice sound higher pitched than normal. “White Diamond is slowly entering into your mind every night. She’s trying to take your gem and replace it with her own cause she’s so jelly that you get to hang out with Amethyst!”

Steven could not be any less amused.

“Come on, Amethyst! This is really serious.” Steven said fearfully. “What if she IS trying to do that? What if she’s slowly pushing me out a little at a time, and one day I wake up to find that White Diamond possessed my body and, like, ate Beach City?”

“Eat Beach City?” Amethyst said, chucking while lifting a single eyebrow. “That’s sounds like something from my bucket list.”

“We’re all in danger!” Steven exclaimed loudly. “Amethyst, please, help me out here. I don’t know how to talk to Pearl about this. Garnet would probably bubble me. You’re the only one who could help.”

Amethyst had gone from a humoring demeanor, to one of worry. The kind an older sibling would have for their younger one when they seem to feel as lost and as helpless as they do.

“Steven. I’m sorry. This isn’t an easy thing for me either.” Amethyst said, taking off the party hat from her nose. “I get that Garnet might not be the best at helping. In fact, she’s been spending a lot of alone time with herself, and not really been out and about.”

“What about Jasper, maybe?” Steven asked, “I mean, I know she’s slowly learning how to fit in, but maybe something like this…could…”

Steven stopped himself from saying anything more because of how futile that line of thought sounded. Jasper had been spending most of her time on the beach, trying to figure herself out while avoiding most people. Beach crabs, on the other hand, are on her list of questionable things that shouldn’t make sense. Ever since she encountered one a few days ago, she’s nearly made it her life’s mission to study them as much as possible.

“You.” Jasper said, hunched over and looking dead straight at a crab. “What is your main function? Where is your nearest supervisor?”

The crab being questioned could do nothing, but continue eating a discarded piece of a donut while watching the large, multi-colored woman making louds sounds to them.

“Answer me, you living pebble!” Jasper said, looking more annoyed before needing to step back and collect her thoughts. “No, Jasper. I need to control my anger. Just breath, and think about…um…. hexagons, lungs, and bumps?”

She spun back around to stair at the clueless crab and went in close enough to the crab in which she would only be a few inches away from it’s carapace.

“HOW MAY I HELP YOU, CITIZEN OF BEACH CITY?!” Jasper roared at the crab before the crab got a good hold on Jaspers lower lip. All Amethyst could do was stand at the window and laugh as Jasper ran on all fours, and desperately trying to shake the crab off.

“You can do this, Steven.” Amethyst said, opening the window. “You could always just ask ‘what kind of powers does White Diamond have?’. That wouldn’t be too traumatic. Just ease into it, and you’ll be fine. I have to go save my sister from a menacing crab. Laters!”

Steven walked down the stairs from his room, and into the foyer, where Pearl was donating over a water kettle, While his making miniature lettuce wraps. She neither eats or drinks much of anything, and his dad wasn’t too big of a fan. 

“Um, hey Pearl. Hey dad.” Steven said, pulling a chair away from the kitchen bar and having a seat. Looking at the lettuce wraps, and a small bowl of grapes, he noticed that this small spread of food seems familiar. “What’s going on here?”

“Oh, hey Steven.” Greg said, finishing up the last lettuce roll. “Just making a small snack.”

“Small?” Steven said, looking at the small mound of salad rolls. They were mainly romaine lettuce leaves filled with finely diced red cabbage, onion, carrots, and a small line of salad dressing. Before Steven could say anything more, Pearl took notice of him.

“Oh Steven! Just in time. I’m going to need you to help set up the umbrella on the deck outside. We’re going to have a guest visiting.” Pearl said, turning off the stove, and placing a few teabags into the pot. The scent of the tea was mildly pronounced as mildly sweet, but not too heavy.

“Who’s coming by?” Steven asked, right before the sound of the doorbell rang. It seemed to obviously timed for that to happen. A common thing in fiction, but in real life, it was rare.

“Oh, that must be her.” Pearl said. “Come in!”

The door handle shook, but would not open.

“It’s locked.” A muffled but familiar sound spoke from behind the solid wood door to the house.

“Oh, Steven, could to let her in?” Pearl said as she was intricately folding napkins in unusual and impossible shapes.

Steven walked over to the door and opened it to reveal a tall, dark haired, and imposing woman.

“Oh. Hello, Steven.” Dr. Maheswaran said with a warm smile.

“Oh, Hi ma’am. Come on in.” Steven spoke, beckoning her to come inside. As she walked in, a faint smell of lavender was followed by a wave of heat from outside. 

It was the high point of summer, where the heat was so bad, going out to the beach in front of the house was almost inconceivable due to the molten hot sand. Steven closed the door to keep as much of the cool air in as possible. As he did, he took a brief glance at what was going on in front of the house on the beach. Garnet, sitting with a few of the cured gems, was showing and teaching them some of the basics of what life is like now, and how to properly attempt to fit in. Garnet and Pearl would usually switch off in their lessons about modern life and society, since Garnet’s way of teaching was blunt, but somewhat vague. While Pearls method of teaching was detailed, but sometimes hard to grasp. He wonders what it would be like if Sardonyx took a chance at teaching. It would be a learning experience on multiple levels. Steven’s attention turned to the two women, who briefly hugged, which afterwards, Priyanka placed her purse on a small table near the window.

Steven hasn’t seen her since the pool party. Near the end of it, when Lapis, Sour Cream, and garnet were placing glow sticks in floating sphere of water, and then bubbling them. The bubbles then floated above them all, lighting the ground faintly in multiple colors. Despite a group of Gems, who looked like his mother, nearly attacked him, the party turned out well. despite it happening two weeks ago, the party remained fresh in Steven’s mind. For better and for worse.

“So, should we take this outside? It looks quite pleasant out there.” Pearl asked Priyanka.

“I…would not recommend it.” Priyanka answered, looking outside. “It’s triple digits right now, and I’m out of sunscreen. Plus, it feels nice inside.”

“Called it, Pearl.” Greg said, giving a slight smirk to Pearl. “100 plus degrees is not an ideal temperature to serve my lettuce rolls.”

“You made them?” Priyanka said, zeroing in on the small tray of lettuce rolls. “Awesome. With the-”

“Ginger, garlic, and honey vinaigrette, and a small touch of balsamic?” Greg cut her off “Enough for you to take home.”

“Oh, you have no idea how big of a help this is!” Priyanka said, walking over to the tray and picking one up. “I’ve been trying to find something for lunches during the week for work. I was getting worried that I would have to rely on fries. I can’t do that, Greg. I just can’t do that.”

Priyanka took a bite out of the roll as she looked around at the house. She’s only entered Stevens house a couple of times since it was rebuilt a year ago. But every time she stopped by; she couldn’t help but be amazed by how well it was rebuilt. The vaulted ceilings with wooden beams and their intricate carvings, which were on purpose, and not through a fierce fight with a corrupted gem monster. 

Her eyes fell on one beam in particular. The one in which Obsidian was hanging upside down, and playing with a 12-sided Rubix cube. The sides, in which, bore no colors, but mirrors in very mild shades of light colors. Pearl and Garnet have never been able to solve it. Not even Connie. Obsidian, on the other hand, had solved it multiple times. But no matter how many times she solved it; she always ends up staring at it with a sense of dissatisfaction. Looking, relatively, up from the Rubix sphere, she noticed the visitor, and waved. Priyanka’s eyes grew wide as she almost took a step back. Steven noticed this, and walked in front of her, separating her from Obsidian as though he was ready to protect her. Obsidian stopped waving slowly, and swung herself upright onto the ceiling beams.

“Yo, Steven. Catch.” Obsidian said flatly, while gently tossing the 12-sided Rubix puzzle to him. “Good luck trying to tell Pearl about that thing with your dreams.”

“What is she talking about?” Pearl said, seemingly curious about what Obsidian said. Steven grew nervous.

“What? Oh, that? Don’t worry about it. It’s just Obsidian being Obsidian.” Steven said, not noticing that Obsidian had good hearing, and possibly feelings. “Lets get this stuff situated, and….um…what brings you by, ma’am.”

“Oh, I thought Pearl would have told you that I was going to drop by to talk about a few things. Mostly about you.” Priyanka said, finishing off the rest of the roll.

“Me?” Steven asked with caution.

“Well, yes. Mostly about school, or maybe health records perhaps?” Priyanka said, looking back at Pearl and Greg. They both looked slightly nervous. They knew she would be keeping an open mind about Gem business, but they weren’t sure how open of a mind. They didn’t want this to be a repeat of ‘The Crab Shack’ incident. No one wanted a repeat of that particular incident.

“Yeah…It’s nothing big really.” Greg said “You could join us if you want.”

“Um, yeah. Sure.” Steven said, going over to the counter and picking up the tray of lettuce rolls, and carrying it over to the sofa, along with the intricate napkins.

Steven needed to find the right time to ask about White Diamond. But sadly, Steven has been having a hard time sleeping. At least twice a week, He is visited by the cold and sociopathic smile of White Diamond. For the first couple of weeks, the dreams caused him to feel helpless and terrified. Connie, for the most part, knew about the dreams, as well as the toll it was taking on Steven. Connie was already traumatized enough by White Diamond that they agreed to not do anymore dream dating, but she still listened to Steven talk about his problems sleeping. Sometimes, maybe for an hour or so, Connie would let Steven sleep on her lap while she read a book. It seemed like it was the only way he could get any rest, or at most, feel secure. But it wasn’t enough. Deep down, he knew he couldn’t just sleep on Connie’s lap forever, despite whatever Peridot would write about them.

The conversation was unstimulating for Steven. The tea that was being served only worked so much on Steven to keep him awake. Sometimes, it was almost too easy to drift away in thought. Or, in this case, his memories of the nightmares. After a while, he grew tired of being afraid. Although traumatizing, Steven attempted to become more creative in his dreams. He would grow giant, only to have White grow much larger in scale to Steven. Steven would also try bringing in fictional characters and leading a charge against her, only to seem them all become vaporized by White Diamonds powerful beams of pure, possessive energy. Anything Steven could do, White Diamond would not only do better, but also do it more frightening than before. And every time, it ends with Steven, watching White Diamond rip his mother’s gem from his body. He wasn’t sure how long he could go on with these encounters with her. At the same time, he was worried about scaring everyone over what could just very well be a silly nightmare.

Every so often, Steven would look up from his tea, he would look around and try to catch up to whatever conversation was being had. Every so often, it would change from Greg trying to explain how Steven, despite having ever been given any vaccines or shots, had never actually been sick in his life, save for the allergy of the pollen, but nothing serious. This left Priyanka looking very nervous before Pearl talked about how his gem had possibly given him some immunity to nearly all viruses and bugs. This didn’t help much, and it showed. The Gem. Back to his gem again. Some days it never bothered him. Some days he looked at it and was reminded that it was both a link between him and the mother he never knew, and how it was a reminder of anything she ever sacrificed so Steven could be born. He looked at it with a sense of love and purpose. Sometimes, he would look at it with scorn. With all the strange things that have happened, he sometimes wished he was normal. Memories of Lars yelling at him for being nobody but himself, the look of disgust and disapproval from Priyanka years ago. Faces he remembers become distorted, and any blanks that were there were replaced with the worst of outcomes that never happened. Doubt and fear could turn into the worst of things. He knew that Lars didn’t hate him and saw him as a pretty cool person. He knew Priyanka and Doug cared about him like the son they never had. He knew that the Crystal Gems, The Diamonds, even Jasper saw him for who he is. But the memory of dreams haunts him. His gem, torn from him.

He shifted his focus back to everyone else. The demeanor was less serious. Someone chuckled at an anecdote Steven’s dad made. Someone looked surprised about a newfound information about someone else. Sometimes, one of them would look at Steven for a few moments. And for a brief moment, they looked concerned. Concern for Steven. briefly, they saw him in a moment of mental struggle. But only briefly. It was a verbal game of ‘Hot-Potato’, where they would notice something wrong, but immediately change subjects. They were giving Steven independence, and maybe a chance to collect his thoughts. He drifted between being alert, and being in a state of contemplation. In the middle of it all, Steven heard someone talking to him. It was somewhat familiar.

“What’s wrong, Steven?” The voice said, echoing in his head.

“What kind of powers does White Diamond have?” Steven said, without realizing he said it out loud. The table became silent. Doug and Priyanka had the look on confusion on their faces. A faint memory about someone talking about college was shut down by a completely different, and out of bounds kind of question. Pearl, on the other hand, looked shocked.

“C-come again?” Pearl asked, not knowing she just picked up a cup of tea and sipped it, trying to seem normal.

The Lion was out of the box. Steven knew that there was no turning back.

“W-w-what are White Diamonds Powers?” Steven said, trying to muster the courage and will to ask suck a complex question. “Like, could she astral project herself? Could she do what I do? Can she enter dreams?”

Greg and Priyanka stood dumbfounded. Pearl, on the other hand, tried to keep herself composed in front of guests. Greg, seeing Pearl on the verge of imploding, stepped in.

“Steven?” Greg asked, sounding highly concerned. “Is everything ok?”

“I wasn’t going to mention anything, but you don’t look like you’ve been sleeping well.” Priyanka said, looking as concerned as Greg was. She was right. Steven began to develop dark circles and bags under his eyes. His attention span had been whittled down to nothing. The truth is the only way through this conversation, no matter how unpleasant it seems.

“I’ve…. been having dreams. Nightmares. Where White Diamond had me wrapped around her huge fingers and sharp nails.” Steven explained. “She sometimes talks about how she has plans for the earth. I end up dying in those dreams before I wake up.”

“Sometimes?” Greg asked, sounding startled.

“At…at least twice a week.” Steven said, regrettably. “Sometimes 3 times.”

“And when did this start?” Priyanka said, focused intently on Steven’s words.

“Around the time Blue and Yellow came back with White Diamonds essence.” Steven answered. Pearl couldn’t look any paler.

“So…almost two months then?” Greg asked, seemingly feeling as though his hair is slowly falling out from stress, one strand at a time. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I didn’t want to worry you all. This seems like a problem I needed to take care of myself.” Steven said, looking down at his look warm tea he had been nursing for an hour.

“Steven.” Priyanka said, rubbing her temple. “Organizing and filing medical forms, you could do on your own. Cleaning gutter, solo job. Wrangling the feral Era 3 Peridots and stopping them from eating all the car tires in Beach city...sometimes a two-person job. But having traumatic, and borderline realistic dreams of a hegemonic tyrant ripping a critical part from you, and you dying in them! That’s something worth mentioning to someone, Steven!”

“I know. I…Pearl. Thoughts? Was I just having dumb nightmares, or what’s going on?” Steven asked Pearl, who was nearly visibly vibrating.

“I-I…I…I” Pearl attempt to speak, but before she could, she dropped her tea cup. Everything blurred into slow motion. The look of panic and fear rippled throughout her eyes, throughout her face, her arms. All the way to her gem. At that moment, pearl glowed white, and where she was once sitting, now sat a quickly dissipating cloud. her gem, falling amidst the cloud, landed on the cushion of the couch with a minor thud. Just like how he predicted, she was so terrified, she dissipated.

“Pearl…” Steven said, reaching over to pick up the gem with a look of disapproval. All he could do was sigh. “This is what I was afraid of.”

It took Steven a few moments to realize that Priyanka had never seen an actual gem being poofed before, not counting the hospital incident. Quickly looking over at Priyanka, she showed little sign of shock. Concern, but no sign of terror.

“Ma’am. Don’t worry-” Steven begin to speak before being cut off.

“It’s ok Steven. Blue and Yellow Pearl poof themselves at least twice a week through ridiculous means.” Priyanka said before shooting down the rest of her tea. “They do it often enough that you could set your clock to it.”

Steven looked down at Pearls gem and sighed.

“Story of my life.” Steven said, looking deeply at the gem that laid in his hands. “It’s as though the only ones that stick around are gems that are actually from here. But all the ones that know about White Diamond…or just any of the diamonds, they run away.”

“We’re still here, kiddo.” Greg said, wrapping an arm around Steven, who wiped away a tear. “We may not be gems, but we’re here for you.”

Steven leaned into his dad, while Priyanka could only slightly smile, but was fixated on Pearl’s gem.

“I know the pearls back at the office usually reform after a few minutes, but how long does it take for her to come back?” Priyanka asked. But before Steven could say anything, the front door swung open with Amethyst and Jasper trudging in.

“I- I don’t get it, Amethyst.” Jasper said, gingerly rubbing her lower lip. “I was just trying to help them, but they just pinch me out of nowhere? What did I do wrong?”

“Don’t think too much about it, those things can be a little, well, crabby.” Amethyst replied, trying not to sound like she made a pun.

“’Crabby’?” Jasper asked before her eyes widened. “Oh! That’s why they’re called crabs!”

“Eh. Close enough.” Amethyst said, patting Jasper on her thigh. “And don’t worry, just try to help the humans, or just anything furry, and you’ll get the hang of this guardian stuff. Hey Steven! Whatcha got there?”

Steven showed Jasper and Amethyst Pearl’s gem.

“I told you two. This is exactly what I knew was going to happen.” Steven said, flatly and with a minor amount of annoyance. Amethyst looked almost as disappointed as Steven was, but Jasper looked impressed.

“Wow! Steven! Nice job taking out Pearl.” Jasper said, grinning broadly. “I knew you were just working your way up the leadership ladder. You’ll be ruling this planet in-”

“Pearl poofed herself after I brought up White Diamond.” Steven said flatly, cutting off Jasper. “And you know that’s not how all of this works, Jasper.”

Jasper now shares the same sense of disappointment, but for slightly different reasons. But after a few seconds, Amethyst spoke up with a sense of a realization.

“Wait a second. Where do you think that would place me?” Amethyst asked Jasper.

“Well, I was guessing that you were only slightly below Steven…or at least not until I poof you. Again!” Jasper said, grinning manically.

“Not if you catch me first!” Amethyst said playfully. But just before Jasper could lunge at Amethyst, as well as Amethyst pulling out her whips, Steven interjected.

“Not indoors!” Steven yelled, while pointing at the door. “You know the rules, petty playfighting outside only.”

“Sorry.” Amethyst and Jasper said, looking down as they slowly walked towards the front door, and picking up speed the closer they got to it. They would end up dueling for most of the afternoon. But in the meantime, it was time to wrap up.

“Thank you for the lunch, Universes.” Priyanka said, holding a large container of chilled lettuce rolls. “Oh, and Steven, let Pearl know that I’ll be talking about what we said earlier with Doug and Connie. I’ll have made a decision later. How long does it take for her to reform?”

“Last time, it was about a week. Maybe longer.” Steven said, looking down at Pearls gem. “But…wait, what were you all talking about earlier.”

Priyanka looked surprised.

“You really were daydreaming pretty intensely.” Priyanka said, lifting an eyebrow.

“When you have croak dreams as often as I have this past month, you would be too.” Steven said smirking. This led to Priyanka to rub the top of Steven’s head and mussing up his hair. Priyanka stopped momentarily.

“you’ve grown a lot, haven’t you?” She asked. “How old are you now?”

Steven froze for a few moments as it dawned on him that he forgot all about his birthday. With all the things that were going on, it was understandable. But within a few moments, it occurred to him how old he is.

“I’m….16?” Steven said, seemingly surprising himself with the realization of all the things that had happened in the span of a few years.

“Wow…. time flies.” Priyanka said, looking over Steven. “You might be as tall as your mom sooner than you would know it. Maybe even me.”

Greg wasn’t feeling too keen on the idea of Steven growing up so fast. His eyes showed it as he looked down at Steven.

“Yeah. um, but, sure. I’ll let Pearl know that you’ll think about it and talk to Doug.” Greg said, giving a small wave. “Drive safe. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.” Priyanka said. As she turned away, for a moment, everyone watched for a few moments as Amethyst was bouncing around, and dodging Jaspers attack. It didn’t seem like they were actually fighting, but almost like they were either sparring, or just playing around. A few years ago, this would have been a terrifying scene. But now, to Steven, it was a relief that Jasper and Amethyst was getting along. There might be hope for Jasper to find her place on Earth.

“Dad…” Steven began to speak.

“It’s ok, Steven. I understand why you didn’t want to tell anyone. Or even me.” Greg said in a reassuring tone. “a while ago, I tried to steer clear of Gem business. But now, I’m going to try to be more involved. I might not get most of it. But all I can do is try.”

“Thanks, dad.” Steven said, smiling. “But I was going to ask, what were you, Pearl, and Mrs. Maheswaran talking about? I was kind of in and out.”

“Well.” Greg said, “It’s just boring stuff. History, trying to save money. School. We were just talking about you like usual.”

“You guys talk about me?” Steven asked.

“Well, yeah. you’re an interesting person to talk about.” Greg said, looking at Steven and seeing a sense of insecurity in his eyes. “Nothing bad or anything. Just talking about things.”

“Right.” Steven said, not buying most of what his dad says. He knew that he wouldn’t say anything bad about him. Embarrassing information, or perhaps baby pictures. But nothing negative.

“How about birthday cake for dinner?” Greg asked, patting Steven’s shoulders. “I kind of owe you one. And maybe give us a chance to talk some more?”

“I’d like that.” Steven said, smiling. “Maybe talk about driving lessons?”

“One of those things, sure.” Greg said. “Let me go get ready, I think the big donut would sell cakes, right?”

“They should.” Steven replied. At that moment, he realized he was still holding Pearls gem. Before going inside to grab his sandals, he stared deeply into the gem, wondering if she was looking back at him. He looked away, and walked back into the house to place Pearl on a pillow in the living room.

**Author's Note:**

> well, 4 weeks left, and 5 stories left to write.....
> 
> *sobs in the corner*


End file.
